You can’t play the lossless flac files via innuos so you were playing MQA. It’s only available by the iOS app not 3rd parties. Sounds like in Roon you don’t have it performing the MQA decoding where on the Innuos sense it is hence the difference in resolution the DAC is seeing. You cannot avoid MQA currently unless on the early access programme in Tidals own app and only on iOS.
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My old system was MQA compatible, and that was how I came to know how my favorite test music sounded with MQA. In my current system, both the Innuos and the DirectStream DAC are not MQA capable. They do nothing in terms of processing MQA to any extent or level. So it tells me the Sense app does something different with the Tidal files than Roon does.
They added MQA decoding some time ago to Sense and if your getting 96/24 out of Tidal currently then it’s definitely engaged as regular flac at that res isn’t available to any device or app outside of the early access programme and it’s only via the iOS app. So yes Roon is different as isn’t applying MQA decoding in your signal path as you likely don’t have it turned on so you’re getting a 48/24 undecoded MQA master. Both Roon and Sense provide MQA core decoding which unfolds the original 44.1/24 or 48/24 to 88.2/24 or 96/24 as the first step, the dac does not need to be involved or support MQA for this to happen.
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Thank you for the explanation… great information. Much appreciated!
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Tidal officially launches 24bit/192k lossless hires in Singapore.
I’ve been waiting for this happen and finally it comes true! I will try out on Roon tonight! 
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Tidal has released universal access to Max decoding for Hifi Plus members only as of today; however there is no access to these files in Roon until they update the API to allow users to select “Max” instead of “Master” in the services section in settings. Anyone who is claiming that they have access to these new high res FLAC files in Roon is mistaken. There also may be a need for a firmware update in streamers to support this, but I haven’t yet been able to confirm this. I’m using an iFi Neo Stream. I will post further updates as they evolve, thanks!
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Not for Roon Ready endpoints as they always receive a stream of decoded PCM samples over RAAT, which is one of RAAT’s fundamental design principles
No it will need updating the api for Roon to access these streams as it’s not in the current APi regardless of what it sends to the streamer so they are not available until that’s in place.
I imagine it’s purely for tidal app at moment until they roll out the updated api and vendors implement it. Which isn’t usually that speedy.
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You are correct that Roon Ready endpoints do not have to update for this, but need to wait for Roon to update for this.
For those who use native Tidal or Tidal Connect from streamer firmware, you need to wait for the streamer firmware to be updated.
When this can actually happen may be a surprise to users of Roon and streamer hardware.
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Sure, but not in Roon Ready endpoints is all I’m saying, as it was in reply to “firmware in streamers”.
For everything else, like Roon Core or manufacturer streaming apps / Tidal Connect implementations in streamers, there will need to be updates of course
It seems it now plays whatever it has when selecting MAX with preference for “Highrez” FLAC.
It could be an MQA file or a “Highrez” file if there is one. Or a FLAC Higrez MQA file and then it’s up to the DAC and your settings.
MQA is present on Max. I’m playing via Tidal Connect to an Arcam AVR, ‘Max’ on the app, MQA output on the Arcam. I haven’t found one of the 6m tracks affected by today’s change to see how to prefer MQA over non-MQA or vice-versa, and can’t see from the UI or settings on the Tidal app how that is handled.
Tidal Connect is not up to date all MAX versions are in MQA format. To enjoy FLAC HiRes, you need a direct connection.
By streamer firmware I was referring to Tidal Connect, sorry! My overall point is that we’ll need to wait for Roon to support choosing the “Max” tier before we’ll have access to the high res FLAC files. Actually there isn’t even a “Master” tier available in Tidal anymore so no clue what that setting is routing to from the Tidal server. As it stands I’ve verified several albums I’m able to access in the Tidal app that show up as “Max”, but in Roon the only selectable album versions that are high res are the usual MQA files.
I thought I saw someone previously suggest that turning off MQA unfolding in the Roon settings would access the Max masters and I can say definitively that that is false.
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Sorry for my misunderstanding
Yes it’s very weird what is going on over at Tidal right now, because as a Hifi plus member I’m unable to select the Master tier that held the MQA files in the Tidal app now, yet in Roon all I can play are MQA masters. They’ve also removed the gold “M” tag from their album lists in the Tidal app so it isn’t even possible to figure out what resolution the masters are unless you select the album version and check. It remains a mystery how they have the FLAC and MQA masters stored or configured on their end.
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Can you elaborate? Or hint just a little?
I saw a statement from Tidal saying that connect and (I think) third-party apis would be updated later in the year.
Are they at least talking/working with vendors?
How do you know these aren’t still MQA only on Tidal? Did you play them through Tidal on an MQA capable DAC and only get PCM?
Looking at my Tidal account today – after a Tidal upgrade – I see Tidal no longer identifies albums or tracks as MQA. Instead it labels them MAX. I see no way for one to know if an album is an MQA album or Hi-Res album that does not use MQA.
However in Roon it seems MQA albums in Roon are still tagged as MQA.
Can anyone shed any further light on this?
BTW I am aware of the MQA bankruptcy/reorganization. I am not asking for information about that. I am strictly seeking to understand what now appears to be a distinction in how Tidal and Roon tag/identify the same album.
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